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Security report for acatech.de

acatech – Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften · Technology · Germany

Medium risk. 7 critical or high findings in GDPR outside view, Security headers and 2 other checks.

Security score

50/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

acatech – Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften is a leading German academy providing independent, fact-based advisory services on technology and innovation to politics and society. The organization focuses on sustainable growth through innovation and operates with a strong presence in sectors such as energy, transportation, healthcare, and digital transformation. The website reflects a professional and comprehensive digital presence with clear navigation, rich content, and strong branding consistency. The target audience includes policymakers, researchers, industry stakeholders, and the general public interested in technological advancements and societal impact. Technically, the website is built on WordPress with modern SEO practices implemented via Yoast SEO and enhanced user experience through AngularJS and jQuery. Cookie consent is managed via Borlabs Cookie, ensuring GDPR compliance. The site is mobile-optimized and performs moderately well, though some legacy technologies like AngularJS 1.8.5 are in use, which may require future modernization. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS and uses cookie consent mechanisms but lacks explicit security headers visible in the HTML source. The use of legacy frameworks and plugins necessitates regular security audits. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were detected. Privacy policies and cookie policies are comprehensive and GDPR compliant. Overall, the website demonstrates a high level of professionalism, trustworthiness, and compliance, with minor recommendations for enhancing security headers and updating legacy technologies to maintain a robust security posture.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
43/ 100 · High
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

7 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • Critical

      EU business without adequate privacy measures

      EU businesses are subject to strict GDPR requirements

      What to do: Implement comprehensive GDPR compliance including privacy policy, cookie consent, and data protection measures

    • High

      No Cookie Policy found

      GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

      What to do: Add a dedicated cookie policy explaining cookie usage and purposes

  2. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing Strict-Transport-Security header

      Forces HTTPS connections

      What to do: Add "Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

      • CWE-319
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • ASVS V3.4.1
    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching acatech.de

This scan found 26 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

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Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
82
Security headers
15
Email security
75
DNS health
65
Network security
20
GDPR outside view
43
Average
50

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Breach exposure

Leaked credentials and lookalike domains from OffSeq Breach. The counts are free; the detailed lists are paid add-ons.

Dark web exposure

Add-on

Leaked records that mention acatech.de, from OffSeq Breach.

No leaked records found

Breach holds no records for acatech.de right now. New leaks arrive continuously, so monitoring on Breach alerts you if that changes.

Monitor on Breach (opens in a new tab)

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

acatech holds a strong market position as Germany's premier academy for technical sciences, advising government and society on technology and innovation. Its business model is non-profit and knowledge-driven, focusing on research projects, publications, and public dialogue. The organization benefits from high-profile endorsements and a broad partnership ecosystem including Fraunhofer AISEC and the Münchner Kreis. Revenue streams likely include government funding, project grants, and memberships. The target customers are policymakers, academia, industry leaders, and the informed public. Growth indicators include active project portfolios and frequent publications. The website supports these operations with clear communication and digital engagement.

Security posture

The website exhibits a mature security posture with mandatory HTTPS and cookie consent mechanisms in place. However, the absence of visible security headers such as Content-Security-Policy and X-Frame-Options in the HTML source suggests room for improvement. The use of legacy AngularJS and jQuery libraries may introduce vulnerabilities if not regularly patched. No incident response or security policy pages were found, indicating potential gaps in transparency around security governance. Overall, the site is secure for its purpose but should enhance header policies and consider modernizing its tech stack to mitigate risks.

Recommendations

  1. Implement and verify comprehensive security headers including Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options.
  2. Upgrade or replace legacy AngularJS framework to a modern, supported JavaScript framework to reduce security risks.
  3. Conduct regular security audits of all third-party plugins and libraries to identify and remediate vulnerabilities.
  4. Publish a clear security policy and incident response information to improve transparency and trust.
  5. Maintain and enhance GDPR compliance by regularly updating privacy and cookie policies and ensuring user consent mechanisms are effective.

Contact details published on the site

Addresses
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
acatech – Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften
Description
acatech – Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften berät Politik und Gesellschaft, unabhängig, faktenbasiert und gemeinwohlorientiert.
Key services
Policy advice, Research projects, Publications, Dialog events, Technology and innovation communication
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
WordPress, Yoast SEO plugin, jQuery, AngularJS, Borlabs Cookie plugin, Image Map Pro plugin, Simple Tooltips plugin, Zebra Tooltips, Slick Slider
Frameworks
AngularJS
Platforms
WordPress CMS
Performance
moderate
Mobile
good
Accessibility
basic
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
75/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Use of cookie consent mechanism
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • Use of security plugins (Borlabs Cookie)

Analytics and tracking

Services
Google Analytics
Tracking level
moderate
Privacy practices
good

Advertising

Tracking pixels
Google Analytics (UA-32564519-1)
Marketing tools
Borlabs Cookie (consent management)
Transparency
good

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is a professional German technology academy site with comprehensive content
  2. Strong focus on technology, innovation, and policy advisory
  3. Good SEO and structured data implementation
  4. Use of modern cookie consent and privacy compliance tools
  5. No signs of malicious or suspicious activity
  6. Clear contact information and social media presence
Technical notes

Notes

The website is built on WordPress CMS with a combination of AngularJS and jQuery for frontend interactivity. SEO is enhanced using Yoast SEO plugin, and cookie management is handled by Borlabs Cookie. The site uses Slick Slider for image carousels and Zebra Tooltips for UI enhancements. Performance is moderate with good mobile optimization and accessibility basics. The presence of legacy AngularJS 1.8.5 and jQuery migrate indicates some technical debt. The site uses structured data (JSON-LD) for SEO and social media integration. Hosting provider details are not explicitly found. Overall, the technical infrastructure supports a professional and content-rich website but would benefit from modernization and security header improvements.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

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